[1] Te Rau-angaanga belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngāti Mahuta.

[2] Te Rau-angaanga married Parengaope, daughter of a chief of Ngāti Koura, a hapū (subtribe) of Waikato.

[1] Te Rau-angaanga was regarded as a great military tactician mainly because of the successful defence of his lands from attack by coastal Tainui people led by Pikauterangi in the early 1790s.

Pikauterangi, of Ngāti Toa, had formed a coalition of southern and eastern tribes to invade the Waikato.

Te Rau-angaanga was only able to muster 3,000 warriors, but defeated and repelled the army facing him just south of Ohaupo, halfway between Hamilton and Te Awamutu, at the Battle of Hingakaka, considered to be the largest battle ever fought on the New Zealand mainland.